Re: It's NBA time

Re: It's NBA time

Originally Posted by vulcandeathgrip

Politics notwithstanding Shaw would seem to be the best candidate IMO.

Long term i agree. I was under the impression yhat if Phil comes back it would be to groom his successor. Curious if Shaw would come back to be his assistant if he was guranteed to take over after. I also think this is all a plan to keep Dwight. How could Dwight walk away from an all time great like Phil?

Re: It's NBA time

Apparently Phil Jackson is asking for travel restrictions so he only has to attend a limited amount of road games if he returns to the Lakers. How does something like that work with a head coach? Does he Skype in?

Re: It's NBA time

Phil Demanding 10 million a year, relaxed travel schedule, and greater control probably was more then the Lakers were willing to give. I personally like it though, the personnel on the Lakers is a better fit for D'Antoni then Phil. Plus the Lakers have been boring to watch and now they wont be.

Originally Posted by Drinkey McDrinkerstein

Why aren't there more good role models for fat people who fall down a lot?

Re: It's NBA time

I think D'Antoni is the wrong call. He hasn't shown that his game plan can succeed, even when he had the perfect personnel. I think this roster doesn't suit his running offense. Buss Jr is grasping at straws, trying to undo his previous mistake by bringing in his opposite.

Re: It's NBA time

I could never imagine myself saying, or even thinking this. I might have to start rooting for the Lakers now. No I'm not gonna go buy a Kobe jersey but with Nash and D'Antoni there and with the Suns sucking again, I think I would actually like to see the Lakers do well. I know for sure I'd root for them to beat the Spurs at least.

Re: It's NBA time

Originally Posted by HotHamWater

The personnel on the Lakers is a better fit for the guy with 0 titles as opposed to the guy with 11 titles. Good stuff.

Except that the team couldn't pick up one difficult offense so why not throw another one at them. Remember only half of the key players (Kobe/Pau) have been in the triangle. Plus D'Antoni will actually use Nash while the triangle wouldn't have.

Originally Posted by Gribbz

I wasn't sad at all when PHX let him go. Likeable guy? Sure. I just never liked his whole "defense isn't a priority" coaching style.

He has said that his next coaching job he was going to make defense a priority and bring in a "defensive coordinator" coach. He want's to try and shed his image of no defense. Plus having Dwight as your last line of defense has to be better then A'mare.

Originally Posted by Drinkey McDrinkerstein

Why aren't there more good role models for fat people who fall down a lot?

Re: It's NBA time

Originally Posted by TomAz

I could never imagine myself saying, or even thinking this. I might have to start rooting for the Lakers now. No I'm not gonna go buy a Kobe jersey but with Nash and D'Antoni there and with the Suns sucking again, I think I would actually like to see the Lakers do well. I know for sure I'd root for them to beat the Spurs at least.

Re: It's NBA time

Originally Posted by TomAz

I could never imagine myself saying, or even thinking this. I might have to start rooting for the Lakers now. No I'm not gonna go buy a Kobe jersey but with Nash and D'Antoni there and with the Suns sucking again, I think I would actually like to see the Lakers do well. I know for sure I'd root for them to beat the Spurs at least.

This is giving me a bit of an existential crisis.

Open invite to pick a game, make the drive, and hollar. This could be our big night out Tom.

Re: It's NBA time

I never said defensive minded, just putting a bigger emphasis on it. Right now reports are he is going try and get Nate McMillan to come in as defensive coordinator but I wouldn't put any faith into those reports until it actually happens. I mean all the reports were of Phil being the coach so who know what to believe anymore.

Originally Posted by Drinkey McDrinkerstein

Why aren't there more good role models for fat people who fall down a lot?

Re: It's NBA time

I'm not sure if this Lakers squad can play at an up and down tempo. The pick and roll with Nash-Pau/Dwight should boost the offense. I think it's ultimately going to come down with Kobe's willingness to defer the bulk of the load. It'd be smart of him to do, take it easy, pick his spots, stay healthy and takeover in the post season. We'll see.

Re: It's NBA time

I'm not sure we're far enough removed to appreciate what an incredible story this is in the annals of sports: The Lakers turned down Phil Jackson. Someday they'll write a book or make a 30 for 30 about this, and we'll get all the details, but for now we just have to piece together what we know—and that includes, perhaps, allegations that the Mike D'Antoni camp planted false rumors about Jackson's demands.

Phil was the guy from the start of negotiations. He's Phil Jackson, for god's sake—he's got five rings with the Lakers, and more importantly than any of those, he's got Kobe Bryant's respect. Conventional wisdom was that it was Jackson's job to take, and only the requirements of his contract would have to be worked out. One of those stumbling blocks, we were led to believe, was Jackson's desire to skip a number of road trips.

Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak went to Jackson's house on Saturday to hammer out the details. No official offer was made, but Jackson was under the impression that they had shaken on it, and he would give them his decision on Monday. He never got the chance. According to the L.A. Times,

On Sunday, a person familiar with the situation, speaking anonymously because the deal wasn't complete, said the Lakers were 95% certain Jackson was their choice. By game time, the certainty had dropped to 70%, and the rest quickly disappeared in the next few hours.

"Sure I did," he said. "For sure I did. Didn't everybody? When I got the call that it was me, my first reaction was, ‘Are you serious?' "

Jackson got his own call not long after. He's 67, and his age and physical limitations were apparently a concern for the Lakers, so it may have convinced them they made the right choice when it turned out Jackson was asleep when they called. They told him they had gone with D'Antoni, wished him luck, and foreclosed on the off-and-on Phil Jackson era in Los Angeles—Judging from the hard feelings, there's no way the revisit the possibility in a couple of years.

Musberger gave the Times even more, blasting what he called false reports of Jackson's demands for front office power and limited travel. He laid the blame for those rumors at the feet of the Lakers, or more intriguingly, on Mike D'Antoni's people.

"No discussion of those ideas being contractual terms or demands was ever made. They had a full discussion of the club, the roster, the schedule, assistants, etc. But to allow someone either on their side or on D'Antoni's side to make these allegations — unsubstantiated and incorrect — and incorrectly maligning Phil is so objectionable to us that the process would have concluded this way."

Well now, this is a new wrinkle. If it was the Lakers planting false info, it was surely done to drive down his contract demands—reports had Jackson wanting as much as $15 million a year, though again, those reports may have been leaked by the Lakers. But if it was the D'Antoni braintrust dropping the rumors, what was the point? The Lakers would have realized it wasn't true when they negotiated with Jackson. What does D'Antoni have to gain by winning over a sliver of the public opinion?

Unless of course Jackson's reported demands were accurate, and he's now trying to cover his ass.

The actual reasons the Lakers chose D'Antoni over Jackson may be the least interesting aspect of this story—if they're basketball-related. (Jim Buss plain doesn't like Phil Jackson, and the feeling's mutual. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole ordeal was a pair of power plays writ large.)

Steve Nash and Dwight Howard are made for D'Antoni's pick and roll. Jackson's triangle is a first cousin of, and just as complicated as, the Princeton Offense that the Lakers were so inept at running that it cost Mike Brown his job. If Kobe doesn't get the iso-heavy sets he loves, at least he gets a coach he idolized as a kid. Howard, a free agent at the end of the season, gets a player-friendly coach and one whose offense is sure to pad his stats.

The rest of us? We get the return of the Showtime Lakers, and a furious Phil Jackson stewing at his Montana lake house, wondering what he can do to get back at L.A. This one's far from over.

Re: It's NBA time

Quality win from start to finish. Go Clips.

You know, but that's valid because if we are all gonna die anyway shouldn't we be enjoying ourselves now? You know, I'd like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor insignificant preamble to something else.

Re: It's NBA time

Originally Posted by TomAz

The best thing to come of all this is Phil Jackson's private humiliation.

Until the Lakers get humiliated in the first round. Then it will be Buss' public humiliation.

You know, but that's valid because if we are all gonna die anyway shouldn't we be enjoying ourselves now? You know, I'd like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor insignificant preamble to something else.

Re: It's NBA time

My fiancee got the hookup with a free pair of corporate seats for last night's Nets game against the Celtics. We were damn close to the action during a pretty thrilling win, and we also got free food from any of the Brooklyn-friendly food vendors throughout Barclays Center. Had a Cuban sandwich, a brisket banger and split a piece of cheesecake from Junior's. A much more agreeable visit than when we went a few games ago and saw the Nets tank in the second half against the Timberwolves.

On Sunday, I'll be seeing my first Knicks home game of the season when they host the Pacers. I'd love it if they came into the game 7-0 on the season, but they've got their work cut out for them in Memphis tonight.